Well, I disagree, I think it's fine after a reasonable amount of time. In my mind that would be a year but it's their game.
As far as "no reason to do it because names don't take up a lot of space;" that's not why they are doing it.
It's to allow players to claim names they might want but that someone who doesn't play has taken.
It's ridiculous to think that a player who logs in a few times and then quits the game then claims that name forever.
Well they don't claim that name forever unless the devs have everyone on one single megaserver.
Cryptic uses "megaservers" and they solved this problem a long time ago. It's just another rookie misstep by AGS. Death by a thousand cuts. But, let that sink in for a moment; Cryptic has their shit together more than AGS. If that isn't a lulz moment.
These guys built a beautiful game, with a great soundscape, and excellent melee combat. But they run it like a bunch of first time crowd-funded rookies, and I just don't get that.
How did they solve it and if it’s by account (and players can share the same name) how do they differentiate from one legolas to another?
I think only the account name shows. You can call yourself anything and several people in the world has that name but only your account name shows in the world when you type in chat.
I know certain games people book names by creating several alts with the top popular names. Then they sell rights to the name . I suppose enough people complain that names are wasted by players who stopped playing so they ask for the names to be freed for use.
Well for that to have happened here and be a good reason to do this AGS would have had to investigate the names with 'no log in over the past 6 months' and see if they were "popular names". Considering how little management they have done that has ever been applauded do you think they did due process?
Not necessarily they can just claim that some names are popular and they made this decision so that names are not in the accounts of people who have stopped playing the game for a certain amount of time. They don't have to check anything if they institute this policy and use this excuse.
The attitude seems to be that since you're no longer supporting the game they are under no obligation to preserve the name you chose. Some games even delete data which is even worse. You lose all the progress you made which is even worse. I believe at one point FFXI threatened this. I am not sure whether they carried that threat out and I recall it was after 3 months of non payment of a sub.
Well, I disagree, I think it's fine after a reasonable amount of time. In my mind that would be a year but it's their game.
As far as "no reason to do it because names don't take up a lot of space;" that's not why they are doing it.
It's to allow players to claim names they might want but that someone who doesn't play has taken.
It's ridiculous to think that a player who logs in a few times and then quits the game then claims that name forever.
Well they don't claim that name forever unless the devs have everyone on one single megaserver.
Cryptic uses "megaservers" and they solved this problem a long time ago. It's just another rookie misstep by AGS. Death by a thousand cuts. But, let that sink in for a moment; Cryptic has their shit together more than AGS. If that isn't a lulz moment.
These guys built a beautiful game, with a great soundscape, and excellent melee combat. But they run it like a bunch of first time crowd-funded rookies, and I just don't get that.
How did they solve it and if it’s by account (and players can share the same name) how do they differentiate from one legolas to another?
Probably like EVE with a character name, middle name and a family name. (They came up with this back in 2003.)
a. Valid player character names:
Must be at least 3 characters.
Cannot exceed 37 characters. (This limit includes one space between the characters name and family name.)
Name cannot exceed 24 characters. The name can include a middle name separated by a space.
Family name cannot exceed 12 characters.
May contain the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hyphen-minus and single quotation. (Corporation names may also include the dot character.)
Space, hyphen-minus and single quotation characters are not allowed as the first or last character in a name.
Must be unique.
There are a whole bunch of limitations and provisos which are too numerous to mention.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
STO/Cryptic uses an account name. Tree of Savior uses an account "family" name that the player picks. In STO the account name can be hidden when looking at name tags, but the account name can still be seen by selecting and viewing a character.
The account name can also be used to send a player mail or items without having to know their character name. A player can also be blocked at the account level.
All this about account names and or having family names etc etc is all old news and why I said this BS has fallen out of practice.
It's arse backwards to fall back on we will remove you character name cause we are too stupid to come up with a system that allows many of the same name. They didn't even have to come up with anything original but could have used one the numerous systems other games use....
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
I know certain games people book names by creating several alts with the top popular names. Then they sell rights to the name . I suppose enough people complain that names are wasted by players who stopped playing so they ask for the names to be freed for use.
Name camping happened on some of the CoH severs back when the game was live, with some being held for ransom essentially.
My god...
The only concern the devs have is free up names used by inactive players rather then making new and original content for the pve mode that is loosing many players.
That it is the only issue mentioned in an article doesn't make it the sole concern of those running the game. I expect they are primarily occupied with the changes that will be made related to the new game coming.
Many servers are under 500 max players now. The game is in the 6000 total player range now. So what happens when a game built around population has none? We will find out.
I think all of their collective eggs are in one basket with the hope that the console launch will bring in numbers. (It won't). I think it goes into maintenance mode by Summer 2025.
Realizing that New World has gone through numerous server consolidations during its history I'm sure even active players lost their favorite character names and just had to learn to deal with it.
For all I know I've already lost my character names as I know the server they are on has been consolidated at least twice.
If someone else who was still playing also had the same name I hope they were allowed to keep it instead of me.
Just not really that big of a deal in this day and age where servers are so transitory.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Realizing that New World has gone through numerous server consolidations during its history I'm sure even active players lost their favorite character names and just had to learn to deal with it.
For all I know I've already lost my character names as I know the server they are on has been consolidated at least twice.
If someone else who was still playing also had the same name I hope they were allowed to keep it instead of me.
Just not really that big of a deal in this day and age where servers are so transitory.
Well it would not be too hard when servers merge to give a name clash to the player who had been on the most over the last six months. After all they have software in place which is noting that players have not been online for six months. But knowing how often their management decisions have foxed us I would not be surprised if they just did it randomly.
They put an X in front of the name. Then two more XX very innovative use of X. Then if you reclaim the name when you go back you can take away the X if no one else took the name. I don't recall which game used the 'X'. Of course you can change the name completely from the one with the X in front of it. So free name change whoopie!
Comments
Not necessarily they can just claim that some names are popular and they made this decision so that names are not in the accounts of people who have stopped playing the game for a certain amount of time. They don't have to check anything if they institute this policy and use this excuse.
The attitude seems to be that since you're no longer supporting the game they are under no obligation to preserve the name you chose. Some games even delete data which is even worse. You lose all the progress you made which is even worse. I believe at one point FFXI threatened this. I am not sure whether they carried that threat out and I recall it was after 3 months of non payment of a sub.
https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/50236/does-ffxi-still-delete-characters-after-3-months-of-inactivity
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/678051-final-fantasy-xiv-online-a-realm-reborn/66756787?page=1
Ahh my memory isn't that bad after all.
- a. Valid player character names:
- Must be at least 3 characters.
- Cannot exceed 37 characters. (This limit includes one space between the characters name and family name.)
- Name cannot exceed 24 characters. The name can include a middle name separated by a space.
- Family name cannot exceed 12 characters.
- May contain the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hyphen-minus and single quotation. (Corporation names may also include the dot character.)
- Space, hyphen-minus and single quotation characters are not allowed as the first or last character in a name.
- Must be unique.
- There are a whole bunch of limitations and provisos which are too numerous to mention.
https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/8563435867804-EVE-Online-Naming-Policy"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Not enough to hold the character names of inactive players forever it seems.
Name camping happened on some of the CoH severs back when the game was live, with some being held for ransom essentially.
That it is the only issue mentioned in an article doesn't make it the sole concern of those running the game. I expect they are primarily occupied with the changes that will be made related to the new game coming.
I think all of their collective eggs are in one basket with the hope that the console launch will bring in numbers. (It won't). I think it goes into maintenance mode by Summer 2025.
For all I know I've already lost my character names as I know the server they are on has been consolidated at least twice.
If someone else who was still playing also had the same name I hope they were allowed to keep it instead of me.
Just not really that big of a deal in this day and age where servers are so transitory.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon